Ukiah transient wanted in pipe attack

The Ukiah Police Department is seeking a local transient suspected of hitting another man in the head with a metal pipe Monday.

According to the UPD, officers responded to the railroad tracks near East Gobbi Street around 6 p.m. Oct. 29 for a reported assault. The victim was a 45-year-old man who had a "very large, bleeding laceration on his forehead near his eye."

The victim was intoxicated and not able to provide much information, but according to witnesses officers spoke to on the scene, the man was attacked by Lamont Jones, 35, of Hopland. Jones reportedly approached the victim, hit him in the head with the pipe, then dropped the weapon and fled.

Jones could not be located and is wanted for a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. He has been arrested several times over the past few months for various disturbances in Ukiah, often for public intoxication.

The victim was transported first to Ukiah Valley Medical Center and later to a hospital in Santa Rosa for treatment.

Ukiah man arrested for domestic violence

A Ukiah man was arrested Wednesday after his girlfriend reported he had been abusing her and her child for months, the Ukiah Police Department reported.

According to the UPD, a woman reported to her boyfriend's parole agent that Timothy A. Taber, 30, of Ukiah, had been repeatedly abusing her since July. She said Taber had pulled her by the hair, punched her, head-butted her and hit her child, as well as continued to threaten to harm her if she called the police.

After seeing the victim's injuries, officers went to Taber's house on South Spring Street on Oct. 31, where, after seeing the officers approach, Taber left his front porch and ran inside the residence. Taber ran out of the back of his house and was pursued by the officers with the assistance of a K-9 officer and members of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

He was eventually located in the backyard of a home on South Spring Street, where he had reportedly been found inside by the resident, who escorted Taber outside.

Two transients were arrested Sunday in separate disturbances at Safeway, the Ukiah Police Department reported.

According to the UPD, officers responded to the store on South State Street at 10:45 p.m. Oct. 28 for a report of a man harassing customers. When officers arrived, employees directed them to David Levine, 40, of Chico, who was seen stealing food.

When officers contacted Levine, they determined he had entered the store with the intent of stealing food he couldn't pay for, and had allegedly taken a package of ribs worth about $10, then thrown it away.

Levine was arrested on suspicion of burglary, public intoxication and for violating his probation.

Officers then learned that employees had originally summoned them to arrest another man for possibly stealing. According to employees, a 57-year-old Salinas man was seen trying to steal a bottle of wine, which he gave back when confronted.

He was suspected of stealing food as well, and when officers found him in the bushes he was eating chicken from the store deli, but claimed to have bought it.

He was found to be intoxicated and was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication.